30 January 2011

Unfortunately, like the rest of the Islamic Middle East... Egyptians seem to be a little unclear on the concept...

Hundreds of demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at police near the heart of five days of protests, and policemen responded with live rounds of gunfire, witnesses said.

The death toll approaches 100... and no sign of things cooling off.

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RELATED: Where is President McDreamy?

After much discussion, it was decided that President Obama would not try to speak directly to Mubarak. According to an informed source, the assessment was that president-to-president intervention should be held in reserve as a last recourse.

Besides, any exchange with Mubarak would require Obama to say whether he supported Mubarak’s continued rule. And the president was in a bind: He couldn’t bluntly say no.

29 January 2011

-- TORONTO -- Gunfire broke out at an early morning party in Rexdale Saturday leaving a man with six wounds, Toronto Police say. Officers found the victim on the 17th floor of a Kipling community housing building just north of Finch.

The man had surgery early Saturday at Sunnybrook hospital for the wounds which are not expected to be life-threatening, police said, adding the victim was not co-operating with the investigation.

Police were called to a second shooting early Saturday at MINT nightclub on Eglington Ave. E.

“One thing that has really hurt Holland … is that he is the face of the soft-on-crime policies of the Liberal Party. Voters in Ajax-Pickering are not happy with his conduct. We’re hearing that loud and clear from the community and it will be a big issue in the campaign.”

28 January 2011

...at first, I just thought it was CBC... building on the riotous success of "Little Mosque on the Prairie"...

The Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld an incest conviction, as well as convictions on 46 counts of forgery and uttering forged documents, for a woman named B.D. in a decision released Thursday.

The forgery-related charged stemmed from her attempts to obtain false birth certificates for seven fictitious children. B.D. also tried to get Wafi/Prince's name and date of birth changed on his driver's licence, going so far as to forge a Ministry of Transportation supervisor's signature, the court said.

B.D., 47, maintains she is married to a man named Prince Wafi R. Dz., a real prince and a descendent of Nigerian or Ethiopian royalty. But, as found at her trial, her husband is really her 21-year-old son, Wafi.

She also maintains that Wafi died in a volcano in the Congo, the court said.

Forgive me for asking... but isn't there a checkbox on the Immigration forms for batcrap crazy?

...today's economic machinations to my Lanarkshire-born "brickie" grandfather...Bear in mind here... we're talking about a man who once dumped a bucket full of mortar on a supervisor who was bullying one of his fellow workers at the steelworks.

-- OTTAWA -- The Liberals are "ready to fight" for struggling Canadian families, leader Michael Ignatieff said Tuesday, as he promised his party is focusing on targeting everyday troubles Canadians face from affordable child care, access to post-secondary education and reliable health care.

Hmmm, I've just gotta ask... did Mr Ignatieff major in "struggling Canadian families" back at Upper Canada College?

And hey, I dunno about "ready to fight"... but apparently the Liberals are ready to look us right in the face... and rewrite history...

A spokeswoman from the department of finance said McGuinty’s facts are incorrect, though.

“The truth of the matter is, there was absolutely no legislated reduction of the personal income tax rate to 15 per cent under the former Liberal government,” spokeswoman Annette Robertson said.

Yup... business as usual.

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RELATED: Where's Waldo, er... Jacko

“The NDP has sent out signals that they would be a cheap date,” former Conservative campaign manager Tom Flanagan recently told Reuters.

When police showed up to arrest him about eight hours later, they found the .357 Magnum handgun, 19 bullets, four spent casings and a black hoodie similar to the one witnesses said he was wearing during the shooting in the trunk of his car.

26 January 2011

"Needless to say, Mr. Harper should say no. This will cost him seats in Quebec, but very likely win him just as many in the rest of Canada -- especially if Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton give any measure of lip service to Mr. Duceppe's stunt."

"If the Liberals or NDP want to be the party willing to do anything to scratch together votes in Quebec, Mr. Harper should let them."

Another story you're not likely to find headlining CBC's "The National"...

The PLO's chief spokesman, Saeb Erekat, is recorded as telling senior US official David Hale in 2009: "We have had to kill Palestinians to establish one authority, one gun and the rule of law … We have even killed our own people to maintain order and the rule of law."

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RELATED: Little unclear on the concept...

...between a country & a fiefdom...

"Egypt was relatively late in widely adopting the Internet, so it has fewer access points. The government can shut these down with six, or even four phone calls."

Gayle and I talked it over. Lloyd wasn't home, so we couldn't ask him if he wanted help. And we'd figure he'd say no thanks, even if we could ask him. People are self-reliant here, and often prefer to be left to their own devices.

We finally figured no one ultimately minds a kind gesture, and Gayle blasted the snow and my son and I shoveled around the edges.

It was the Maine version of a prank, I guess. Instead of vandalizing his house when he wasn't home, we shoveled his driveway.

The irony is that not even if Taco Bell used Taco Meat Filling in their packaging and ads they would be right: The USDA says that any food labeled as "meat taco filling" should at least have 40% fresh meat.

According to the Alabama law firm, their stuff only has 36% meat. Perhaps they should call it Almost Taco Meat Filling.

So how exactly did Genghis Khan, one of history's cruelest conquerors, earn such a glowing environmental report card? The reality may be a bit difficult for today's environmentalists to stomach, but Khan did it the same way he built his empire — with a high body count.

WAIT!!! You're not suggesting... the solution to global warming... is genocide?

Over the course of the century and a half run of the Mongol Empire, about 22 percent of the world's total land area had been conquered and an estimated 40 million people were slaughtered by the horse-driven, bow-wielding hordes. Depopulation over such a large swathe of land meant that countless numbers of cultivated fields eventually returned to forests.

"B.C. NDP leadership hopefuls must hand over the keys to their social media accounts – their usernames and passwords – in a confidential questionnaire as the party aims to head off any e-embarrassments."

An explosion occurred this afternoon at Moscow's international Domodedovo Airport, with reports of at least 35 dead and some 130 injured. Of the injured, 20 are said to be in serious condition.

Witnesses say that in the international arrivals baggage area two suicide bombers set off the explosion. Afterwards there was heavy smoke in the airport. The head of an Arabic man was found in the blast area.

21 January 2011

-- Port Colborne, ON. -- “I hear some people, some being police officers, some being Crown attorneys, some being ordinary people, say we don’t want vigilantism, to which I can only give an emphatic 'pardon me'?” Mr. Burlew said.

“When you’re under attack, it’s not a vigilante act. Vigilantism talks about vengeance and retribution. This is about saving your life and saving your property.”

Oh, c'mon now... it's not like these guys were trying to burn down this guy's house... with him inside... wait...

"If it was me firebombing you, you would not have a chance at a second thought, because as soon as you exited the building, well, the whole idea of the firebomb was to flush the skunk (you) out and get you into um, range."Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 10:18 PM, January 24, 2011

It wouldn’t be the post-Chrétien Liberal Party if there weren’t some foul-up, though. Sure enough, this morning, one of the French-language ads had to be pulled and re-uploaded to YouTube when the Conservatives pointed out a glaring spelling error in it.

It’s a minor stumble in the grand scheme of things, and it was fixed quickly, but we can’t help but think of the Liberal Party Express Bus from last summer—the one that broke down on day one.

We don’t expect our political parties to be mechanics, as well, but we do expect them to use spell-check.

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POSTSCRIPT: An Ignatieff enthusiast responds...

"It's not like carrying a concealed machine gun, as you'd like to be able to do."Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 7:31 PM, January 21, 2011

...and responds...

"I'd love it if some Sikh pulled out his kirpan, I'd get to use my favourite Crocadile(sic) Dundee line! Hahahahahahahahaha!" Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 7:47 PM, January 22, 2011

...the most inhospitable part of winter... a not-so-young man's fancy turns to thoughts of tractors... more specifically the 60hp'ish, diesel-powered, loader equipped variant that can authoritatively swing a 3ph backhoe.

-- AJAX -- They handcuffed the home’s six adult occupants using plastic ties and locked them in a basement room while they ransacked the house looking for money. Police declined to say whether they took any cash or valuables.

19 January 2011

There are indeed places on Mr. Ignatieff’s 20-riding tour of the country where a message of investment in “learning” over tax reductions would receive an enthusiastic response. But a roomful of executives, just a block from Bay Street, is not one of them.

The threats followed a formal complaint last weekend from the Iranian Embassy, seeking to stop the showing of the film Iranium at Library and Archives Canada.

Iran 1 -- Ottawa-cracy 0...

Bureaucrats in Library and Archives Canada seemingly gave no thought to maintaining Charter guarantees of freedom of assembly and speech.

“Does a call from the Iranians mean the collapse of free speech in Ottawa? What kind of surreal atmosphere exists in the bureaucracy? The whole situation leaves the impression of a knee-jerk bowing to the mullahs of Iran.”

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UPDATE: Just another reason, folks...

...to stick with Stephen Harper...

According the his press secretary, Mr. Moore started working on figuring out how the issue could be corrected as soon as heard the screening was in doubt. He has since instructed the Archives to honour its commitment to show the film while taking all appropriate steps to ensure security, Codie Taylor said.

“Canada does not accept attempts from the Iranian Embassy to dictate what films will and will not be shown in Canada,” the Heritage Minister said through Ms. Taylor. "The principle of free speech is one of the cornerstones of our democracy"

And heck, look at Iggy and company dressing down the... wait a minute...

Geez... I coulda swore Iggy just finished blasting one of these horrible totalitarian states... oh, right...

Ignatieff dismissed calls that Canada should have followed Australia’s policy on refugees and turned the Tamil refugee boat away.

"This is Canada, not Australia," Ignatieff said. "That means Canada has principles, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, our international obligations."

But not a peep on Iran... or free speech?Yup... exactly what we've come to expect from the party of "Welcome back Khadr".

Those who love guns rarely demand that you share their admiration, but those who hate guns demand that you share their aversion.

Firearm-philiacs make no attempt to persuade, let alone oblige, anyone to have a love affair with guns, but firearm-phobiacs use the law at every turn to make their hatred obligatory. Gun-lovers understand something about freedom; gun-haters understand only coercion.

In the gun debate, the peaceniks are the bullies.

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RELATED: What would Gabrielle say?

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th Congressional District and 5th District Congressman Harry Mitchell, both Democrats, also objected to the ban. Giffords owns a Glock handgun and regards gun ownership as a constitutional right and an "Arizona tradition," said spokesman C.J. Karamargin.

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FROM THE COMMENTS: Sure thing, Libby...

...let it out... you'll feel better...

"Too bad Iggy's not coming to your riding, eh? You could Glock him but good, just for being against the repeal of the machine gun registry."Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia

The "machine gun registry", Libs? And fantasizing about political assassinations?

“We don’t know how far advanced it is, but their intent is pretty clear — to set up a base-in-exile here for the leadership. Some leadership is already here,” a well-placed federal government official told the Ottawa Citizen.

..."Neighbourhood Watch" deal... we don't actually mean to imply it's just some sort of prurient spectator sport... Maybe the journalistic focus here should be the dangers of living in insular, fear-ridden Scarberia...

"Neighbours heard the screams of a Toronto woman with dementia who died after wandering away from her home in the middle of the coldest night of the year – but one man said he had no idea anything was wrong."

"Police also found 'clawing' marks on the screen door of a house and a car near where the woman was found, Sgt. Dubé said."

CTV news reported that one neighbour actually saw this poor woman writhing around on the ground... but even he didn't call for help.

Worse still... some of these people attempted to rationalise their behaviour...

"Others believed that, though the incident is unfortunate, at least it was not a criminal act."

I got nuthin'.

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COMPARE & CONTRAST: Okay... there is hope

"My only thought was that I had to help her," Mr. Caunter said. "There was only one thing I could do and that’s what I did. I could never have lived with myself, or slept tonight, if I hadn’t done it."

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THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"I had a wish too, but it would seem the demented woman was not the seriously demented maryt."Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 7:16 PM, January 18, 2011

The "demented" woman, Libby?

You mean the elderly woman with alzheimers (somebody's mother & grandmother) who froze to death? And you're acually wishing aloud for that to happen to another commenter here at the halls?

Why would you say something like that? Looks like the Arizona shooter isn't the only sociopath on the block, huh?

"Those who consider decades of analysis of political philosophy, international relations and nation building a more important qualification for Prime Minister than devotion to family need not worry. Ignatieff has both."

Hang on a second.

Is this the same Michael Ignatieff who left his wife & two young children... to be with the current "love of his life?"

Heck, let's ask, well... Michael Ignatieff...

"I don't want to litter the slopes with bodies. There may be people who I've left behind who feel that I was ruthless, and if they feel that, then all I can say is — I wouldn't apologize — all I could say is, I don't want to hurt people."

"Too bad Iggy's not coming to your riding, eh? You could Glock him but good, just for being against the repeal of the machine gun registry." Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 9:42 PM, January 17, 2011

Here's the thing... even supposing you could cobble together a time machine, travel back to 1929... and smother little Gaston Glock in his crib... let's be honest... it wouldn't actually make a single iota of difference in terms of saving human lives, would it?

Surely you can't be postulating that this inanimate hunk of metal & molded polymer has some sort of dark, magical powers? So, let me ask... what exactly are you trying to accomplish here?

Pencils, pens... or even bleeding edge laptop computers... do not write lyrical poetry. Parachutes... even negligently packed... do not smash the life out of innocent, random people. Cars... even rip-snorting 400 horsepower street racers... do not chase down pedestrians like panicked bunnies... and guns... even the dark & dastardly Glock... do not foment murder.

So instead of trying to divert all the attention here to an inanimate object... be it a length of pipe, a snowplow, or yes... even a handgun... perhaps you could explain, how not discussing letting obviously mentally defective people with flagrantly violent ideation carom consequence-free throughout the larger field of folk is some sort of inconsequential side-issue.

There was, as in most of these spree-killing tragedies, plenty of red flags here.

This isn't on Gaston Glock or his pistol. Wake up and smell the crazy.

This collective j’accuse has now become a story of its own, and largely because, after the passage of another 24 hours, nothing at allhad emerged from the mass of data on Jared Loughner that linked the assassin with tea parties or talk shows of any persuasion.

-- OTTAWA -- The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the Correctional Service of Canada to pay $9,500 in compensation to a man serving a life sentence for the 1983 murder of an Ottawa police officer.

12 January 2011

Peter Tolias, the president of Tolias Landscaping and Plowing, the company that owns the plow, described what followed as “a two-hour rampage” through city streets before police finally cornered the driver.

Tolias said two of his employees were working beside the vehicle, a heavy duty Chevy pickup truck with an attached plow and salter, when a “guy with no shoes” jumped in and sped off.

“He was barefoot and just came running and jumped in,” said Tolias, 29.

Tolias’s general manager Richard Eros used the GPS tracking system on the truck to help police trail it as it sped west, smashing into at least 15 parked cars on the way.

“He was on a two-hour rampage. Nobody could stop him,” said Tolias, adding that at one point, he almost cornered the stolen plow himself.

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UPDATE: Cop-killer identified

The man who allegedly killed a police officer with a stolen snowplow has been charged with first-degree murder.

"Thank God. I feel so much better. Now we can just kill them, then chop them up and eat them. A great victory for swine everywhere."

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RELATED: Duck, duck, goose

The NCC hoped to smooth things over by clearing foie grasfrom its menu, but what if it has only emboldened the protesters? Atlantic Canada chefs have been known to cook tasty lobster dishes, and it could be argued that having food rammed down one’s gullet is preferable to being tossed into a pot of boiling water.

...long gun registry around... when you really need one...Hang on... they didn't know there might be a little problem here?

Seriously?

Martin said he read through Roszko's criminal history while gathering material for the search warrant. Roszko was well known to police for being violent and was under a 10-year weapons ban on a prior conviction.

11 January 2011

"That Scott down there that's running for governor of Florida," Mr. Kanjorski said. "Instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him and shoot him. Put him against the wall and shoot him."

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THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"Giffords would be denied coverage by Sawah's(sic) insurance company death panel, because the hole through Giffords head was a pre-existing condition by the time she got to the hospital."Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 7:53 PM, January 12, 2011

Simply amazing. You should see the other half dozen irrational comments Libby left here tonight.

Police are investigating suspicious packages left on a busy sidewalk outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and just steps away from the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Two black suitcases and a yellow pail were left beside a green car parked on Front Street West on Tuesday morning. Keys were left in the car’s ignition.

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UPDATE: 13:15... not a live bomb

Police investigating suspicious packages left near the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service say the scare was a false alarm.

The scenario of a possible bomb attack, or a dry run, is made more plausible by the fact that the suspicious suitcases were found outside Toronto’s CSIS offices – which have been targeted by terrorists before.

"We tied it around his ankles and then grabbed another rope and tied his hands up and the police arrived about 40 minutes later. We work with cattle -- it works with them so we figured it would work with him."

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a bathhouse in a southern Afghan border town as men gathered to wash before Friday prayers, killing 17 people, a provincial official said.

A Taliban spokesman in the south, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, said the attack targeted the second-in-command of the border patrol in the area.

Well, heck... as long as there was a good reason...

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RELATED: That homicidal, racist Tea Party

NOW condemns the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) that stole six lives and seriously injured 12 today. We condemn, equally, the culture of hate and violence increasingly reflected in extremeright-wing opponents of those who support progressive solutions to our country's challenges.

Of course... a mentally disturbed 22 year-old with a criminal record shoots a bunch of people... and it's all about Conservatives.

08 January 2011

-- WINNIPEG -- Some groups are already upset that the Holocaust is to get a permanent space when the museum opens in 2013, while other genocides will share a "mass atrocity" gallery.

"It's about fair and equitable treatment of these tragedies," Taras Zalusky, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said from Ottawa.

The German-Canadian Congress is also upset with the attention given to the Holocaust.

I can't wait to tour the "Genocides the U.N. conveniently ignored" gallery.

P.S. - Does Mexico get a side exhibit?

-- MEXICO CITY -- Fifteen bodies, all but one of them decapitated, were found early Saturday in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, local media reported.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in Mexico since late 2006 when President Felipe Calderon mobilized the army and other security services to confront drug traffickers who supply the United States.

One woman is dead and another is in custody after Toronto Police officers were called to an east-end apartment on Friday morning.

Homicide officers were scouring a Toronto Community Housing apartment building at 4301 Kingston Rd., near Bellamy Rd.

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UPDATE: Murdered woman id'd

The victim of the city’s third homicide has been identified as 59-year-old Zaniffa Balkaran. Police have not confirmed if Balkaran was related to Annesair Balkaran, who has been charged with first-degree murder.

Debbie Thompson, 35, who lives in the building, said she had known “Jenny,” as Balkaran was known, for two years. Thompson said she was an avid churchgoer and attended a service several times per week. Thompson described her as, “very nice, very quiet.”

Thompson said that she had met Balkaran’s daughter, whom she knew as “Precious.” She said she believed that Precious was pregnant.

-- NORTH BAY, Ont. -- A northern Ontario French Catholic school board discriminated against three members of the Raelian religious sect when it ended a contract with them to provide teacher training, a human rights tribunal has ruled.

The group, which was founded in 1974 by former French journalist Claude Vorilhon, believes life on Earth was started by space aliens.

The Raelian movement made headlines several years ago when it claimed to have cloned a human.

07 January 2011

Wait a minute... where was Mark Holland when the Toronto 18 was gonna blow up Bay St. and behead the Prime Minister...

The federal Liberals are urging Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to give Coptic churches in this country the money they need to install security cameras and alarm systems to prevent deadly terrorist attacks like the one rocked Egypt last week.

Guess what, Marko, you dim bulb... these guys aren't all that particular about what flavour of infidel they send to the great beyond. You, me... the local strip club or gay bar... it's all good.

Funny how Mark doesn't seem to give a crap about protecting, oh... I don't know... synagogues... subway stations... other denominations of Christians?

And if this is about actual protection... we're going with cameras? Seriously? "Hey, you... stop or I'll flash!!!"

If the Mr Rogers, er... Liberal Party of Canada is finally recognising the deadly dangers of homegrown Islamic fundamentalism... it sounds like we really need to pump up the jam.

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FROM THE COMMENTS: Let's get crazy...

...and ask an actual member of the Coptic community...

"That's much, much, much better to empower the law enforcement agencies instead of wasting money on cameras," said Mansour.

If Beijing continues to buy American debt at the rate it has in recent years, then within a half-decade or so U.S. interest payments on that debt will be covering the entire cost of the Chinese military.

Within the next five years, the People’s Liberation Army, which is the largest employer on the planet, bigger even than the U.S. Department of Community-Organizer Grant Applications, will be entirely funded by U.S. taxpayers.

For all the criticism it unleashed, the blast appears to have forged a consensus that Egypt, despite its historic tradition of moderate Islamic thinking and multicultural tolerance, has in recent years become overwhelmed by fundamentalist religious identification, a position that until now the government strongly denied.

“There is no room for political participation, which makes them susceptible to the conservative religious discourse. If there were real elections, if there was real representation, if there was any real participation by the people, then the political decisions could be more appropriate and address all these problems.”

“I think that 2010 was a very, very bad year in the history of Egypt,” said Mona Makram-Ebeid, a former member of Parliament from a prominent Christian family. “Will this be a national awakening? If not, it might portend very, very dangerous days to come.”

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UPDATE: Just heard the CBC 11:00 news

Apparently half of the 5,000 people taking continuing education (Ontario government subsidised, btw) language programs in Ottawa... are studying Arabic.

Not sure I even believe that number... but, if it's true... why are we, the taxpayer, footing this particular bill?